Amidst the global pandemic and insecurity issues experienced by smallholder farmers, Babban Gona’s farmers recorded a bumper harvest of maize with yields more than double the national average.
The continent of Africa harvests 29 million hectares, and as the largest producer, Nigeria produced 1.77 tons per hectare in 2020. However, the Babban Gona team has achieved an average of 3.84 metric tons/ha, a massive development compared to the achievable value across Nigeria.
Its Managing Director, Kola Masha, while commenting on this feat said: “Babban Gona is committed to lifting one million smallholder farmers out of poverty by 2025. Our cumulative smallholder members have grown to over 110,000. Babban Gona has helped these smallholder farmers to increase their yield and net income by two times the national average. Leveraging on Babban Gona’s proprietary crop assessment technology which analyzes optimal plant populations, assesses germination rates on-field and plant nutrient deficiency levels, we are able to improve efficiency and productivity for each farmer. Today, we have grown to become one of the largest maize producers on the African continent cultivating over 80,000 acres of maize.”
Mr. Kola Masha further said, “we must address the root cause of youth unemployment and violence by stimulating the economy’s growth as well as disrupting the rise in illegal migration”.
According to Abubakar Haruna, a smallholder farmer from Kampa village in Kubau Local Government Area of Kaduna State – “before I joined Babban Gona, I barely got 10 bags of maize from my one-hectare farmland. After joining Babban Gona in the first year, I got 50 bags of maize from my one hectare farmland. In the second year, I decided to cultivate two hectares of land. At harvest, I got 102 bags of maize from my farm, and my life has not been the same since then.”
“Some co-farmers living in my village who had already joined Babban Gona advised me to join Babban Gona, and I partnered with them. I got over a hundred bags of maize alone from 2 hectares of land and made huge profits. I currently farm a land size of 3.5 hectares compared to the one-hectare farmland I started within 2016”.